Blind Man's Beat
by Moral Mark
Summary: When a legendary urban myth has a hefty bounty over his head for murder, the Bebop crew take action. But are heroes really what they seem to be? Crossover piece.
1. Prologue

Prologue 

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, for the past several weeks you all undertook a journey.  A journey which has taken you through fact and observation, through reason and emotion, through fog and smoke, through the angels and devils.  You all endured this journey, this journey for the truth, this journey for justice.  Now, nearing the end of your travels, as you stand at this pivotal point of your quest, and as you carefully choose which path to take, do not let your trek go in vain.  Do not waste this opportunity to do the right thing, what you have seen is the truth.

Isan Pallencia is guilty.  Guilty of murder, of extortion, of smuggling.  As one of the chief criminal masterminds behind the White Tiger Syndicate, the buck started and ended with him.  He called the shots.  He gave the orders.  He pointed his finger.

 And as a result?  Innocents in Mars have suffered and fallen.

The defense's song and dance couldn't hide this.  The defense couldn't hide the  trail of massacre left behind by Mr. Pallencia, from the trail of Red-Eye labs ISSP discovered was under his name, to the bodies of inner-city citizens that fell because they wouldn't yield, to Mrs. Bates, the wife of the owner of Penguin Trading, whose violated and mutilated body solemnly brought Pallencia himself into custody.

The defense couldn't distort the words of the ISSP, the incriminating recordings of Pallencia's deeds.  The defense couldn't hide the cries from the victims, the ones who were under Pallencia's territory, the ones who said themselves they feared his wrath if they failed to yield to his abominable street tax, calling it "protection."  Protection, ha!  Protection from others, or protection from him?

The defense couldn't even hide Pallencia from himself, as he viciously and cruelly testified his "displeasure" at Mr. Bates, and how he deserved to suffer through his loved ones.

You have seen the facts, heard the truth, seen the lies exposed and disposed.  Ladies and gentlemen, your journey, though long, grotesque, and arduous, has been one of justice laid out for you.  Do not let your journey end in vain.  Do not put these past several weeks to waste.

Isan Pallencia is guilty. Give him the judgment he deserves.

Thank you.

The prosecutor found his way back to his seat, patiently clasping his hands together while the judge instructed the defense to proceed with his closing arguments.

-------------------------------

"Foreman, has the jury come to a decision?"

"Yes, your honor."  A dark-haired woman stood up from the jury box, looking down at the holo-screen before her.  "On the charge of smuggling on nine counts, we, the jury, find the defendant . . . .

". . . innocent.  On the charge of extortion –"

Gasps of surprise filled the room, as the judge tried to call the courtroom back to silence, as the Foreman continued, "we find the defendant, innocent."

The courtroom's gasped protests began to fill the courtroom uncontrollably, the judge continuing to silence the room to increasingly no avail.

"On the charge of murder of five counts, including the murder of Mrs. Linda Bates, we find the defendant

The prosecutor suddenly piqued his head as he suddenly caught an indistinguishably subtle sound above the skylight above the courtroom.  Something was –

". . . innocent on all counts –"

Kreesh.

The skylight window shattered open as a figure dropped into the courtroom, landing on his two feet into a low crouch.  To all who could see, only the figure's nose and mouth were exposed – the rest of his body was covered in a dark-crimson body suit.  And his eyes glowed eerily red.

Gasps of shock were replaced by shrieks of horror.  Pallencia tried to sprint towards the court room exit. 

"Guards, guards!"  the judge cried out.

But it was too late.  The crimson-clad figure pulled out a slender crimson night-stick and threw it directly at Isan Pallencia's back as he was running away, piercing through his back.  And into his heart.  Isan Pallencia abruptly planted his face on the floor lifelessly.

The crimson figure glared at the judge for a moment, the red letters "DD" pressed across the figure's chest.  Grinning, the figure pulled out another red night club and pointed it up at the sky-light again, which launched a cable out and pulled taught.  Before the guards could approach him, he pulled himself out of the courtroom, out through the sky-light, and out into the city.

The guards radioed for police pursuit.  The jury had long-fled.  The judge was barking orders at the idle guards.  The spectators were gone from the court-room, or fast-leaving the scene if they weren't.  Isan Pallencia's body bled profusely as some of the guards attempted to assess his condition.

The prosecutor, the blind prosecutor, remained standing, his blank eyes hiding behind red sunglasses, his right hand gripping his walking stick tightly in silent fury.

Time for him to go to work.


	2. Chapter 1

"GNNBreaking News, Live from Metro City Courtroom, Mars.  Rand Allen with an update:

The scene behind me today is one of pandemonium, shock, and awe as the Isan Pallencia trial ended in bloodshed just fifteen minutes ago.  Just as the jury was completing Pallencia's judgement, an unknown assassin burst into the courtroom and killed Isan Pallencia with some sort of billy club.  GNN has exclusive footage of what happened on the scene –"

"Ed, hey Ed, you paying attention?  As I was saying, the key to card tricks is deception.  Fooling your fellow victims – er, players visually.  You see, most people use their eyes when they're playing with cards.  They rely on what they see right in front of them, but the thing is that most eyes are soft and slow, and easily fooled.  That's what – Ed, you even listening to me?"

"Superhero out to save the day!" a lanky, red-haired thirteen year old girl shouted, pointing a finger boldly into the air while striking an equally bold pose.

"Ed what are you –" A glance at the television screen showed a devil-horned crimson figure throwing a red stick towards a person in a white suit, trying to sprint away until the stick jabbed through his back.  The figure glared at a judge-robed figure before escaping up through the roof.

"Huh.  Weird." Packing a deck of cards on her left hand, the blue-haired woman began to shuffle the cards on her left palm with her right hand while watching the news footage . . . 

"Faye-Faye!   Let's get back to tricky-tricks on cardy-cards!" Ed exclaimed, crouching on the edge of the couch  in a classic Spider-Man like fashion.

"Hey, you were the one who got off-track first," Faye said.  "So anyway, yeah, as I was saying – deception.  So, let's do a really easy trick first."  Shuffling the cards in her hands more intently, she continued.  "So let's say you're playing a game of blackjack, and you want a primo card, like say –" Faye drew out a random card and showed the face to Ed.  "Ace of diamonds.  Sets you up for a blackjack, or maybe a five-card hit."

" 'Cuz diamonds are a girl's best friend!" Ed playfully said.

"When you're right, you're right.  Anyway, say you're playing with a clueless bunch, and don't know that a pack shuffle is the only legit shuffle before a deal.  So, you're hand-cutting the cards on your palm." Faye placed the Ace of diamond on the side of the deck before cutting it in half, placing the half with the card below the other half of the deck, keeping them split.  "A good way to deceive people is through speed.  Just watch for a sec."

"Shuffle shuffle, shifty shuffle . . ."

Faye swiftly slipped cards in and out of the deck on her palm at an almost blinding rate, be fore stopping in mid-shuffle, the card deck still split in two.

"Fast huh?" Faye remarked.

"Fast and furious," Ed cracked.

"Yeah, so anyway, notice how I still have the deck in two?"  Faye pulled out the top card from the bottom half of the deck, revealing the ace of diamonds.  "I never close out this split."

"Whoa, tricky tricky!"

"See?  It's all about speed.  Mix up the cards however you like, keeping this split in mind, but the faster you do it the less likely everyone else can keep up.  Put this part of the deck wherever you want when you're almost done shuffling, hand out the cards –" passing out two card to both herself and Ed, she turned over her hand to reveal a diamond-club blackjack.  "And presto.  You got yourself an ace of diamonds in your hand."

Gathering the cards back into the pack again, Faye handed the deck to Ed.  "Here, you try."

"Corrupting the young and innocent, are we, Faye?" boomed a cool voice behind her.

"Hey, Ed's not little!" Ed protested.

"Ed asked me," Faye replied.  "Besides, a girl's gotta learn how to survive, you know?   Prince Charming doesn't go out to save us princesses nowadays, we gotta do it ourselves."

"Prince Charming doesn't go out to save princesses because he's afraid some princesses would gamble his noble steed away."  A blue-suit figure made his way towards the couch across from Faye, his brown-green hair wildly sticking out and unkempt.  While sagging on the end of the couch lazily, Ed was making a fumbled attempt at shuffling the cards on her hand.

"Spike, check this out," Faye said, nodding to the television.  "Some guy in a devil suit or whatever  - made the news . . ."

" 'Though Mr. Pallencia almost escaped from the judgment he rightly deserved, I do not believe that his murder was warranted.  Whoever this impostor – this person is, dressed in this costume, I believe that justice must be served appropriately.'

Once again, that was Metro City District Attorney Matthew Murdock, commenting on the events that transpired just moments ago.  We now-"

Click

"Hey, I was watching that!"

"Isn't Halloween months away?  Besides, lawyers aren't my style," Spike said, "especially well-dressed ones."

"Errrhhhmm," Ed growled in frustration as she fumbled the deck on her hands again.

"What's Jet up to?" Faye asked.

"Up at his little Bonsai lab again," Spike said, "though for a hobby that's supposed to calm him down, he's been awfully irritable in there lately –"

"DAMMIT!!!  NOT AGAIN!!!!" barked a voice down the hallway.

"There ya go," Spike cracked.

Several channels later, Spike stopped when a familiar, cheesy Western-esque theme song blared out the screen, which meant nothing else other than –

"Hi, Amigos!  It's time fo ranother episode of Big Shot!"

"Is it me, or is it that this show's getting increasingly on my nerves?" Faye muttered.

"This week's prize bounty is a Big Shot Special!" said the thick-mustached man.

"Oh wow!" squealed the blonde cowgirl on the screen.  "It must be a really big one to make it as a Big-Shot Special!"

"That's right!  This bounty is straight from the news, and straight from the Martian government!  You heard about that mysterious assassin who killed Isan Pallencia during his trial, right?"

"Oh, yes I did!  Poor poor guy, Pallencia.  Got stabbed right in the back.  So sorry . . ."

"Anyway, just two minutes ago, the Metro City Hall and the Martian Government issued a bounty for this mysterious assassin for the murder of Isan Pallencia . . . 

. . . and it's worth 50 Million Wulongs!"

Both Faye's and Spike's mouths gaped open, before both cried out –

"JET!!!!!"

"Hrrrrmmm," Ed scowled, fumbling the deck again.


End file.
